


i can count the ways on my two hands, we should be friends

by thelemonisinplay



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24040891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelemonisinplay/pseuds/thelemonisinplay
Summary: Between towing the Earth back to its original location and dropping everyone home, there's surely a bit of time for catching up and introductions and proper conversations.(Martha & Rose, after hearing about each other but having very little interaction, finally get a chance to talk.)
Relationships: Implied Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Martha Jones & Rose Tyler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	i can count the ways on my two hands, we should be friends

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I've published Doctor Who fic since the immediate aftermath of Doomsday, when I was but a child on ff.net. So this might not be entirely new territory, but it's definitely not familiar territory anymore either. But quarantine has left me rewatching RTD era and furlough has left me with nothing else to think about, so here we are.
> 
> Title from We Could Be Friends by Freelance Whales

They're in the vortex, all of them, in a full TARDIS which has just dragged the Earth across the universe back to its original position. Everyone's on the same glorious high in the way they usually are immediately after a world-saving success, a high which is perhaps heightened what with the sheer amount of people all bouncing their energy off of each other. Rose for one has never seen the TARDIS so full. She’s leaning back against the wall smiling to herself, watching Donna introduce herself properly to Sarah Jane and Jackie, taking a little moment out to recalibrate. It's been a very long day. She catches sight of the Doctor gesturing wildly in conversation with Mickey, and wants, selfishly, to grab him, interrupt, but ... well. There'll be plenty of time for that later.

"So," says a voice from beside her, "the famous Rose Tyler."

Rose turns, surprised, having half-forgotten she was present in this scene rather than just observing. Standing beside her is Martha Jones, who was willing to blow up the Earth to foil the Daleks' plan. She’s got a look on her face that Rose instantly likes: warm, open.

"God you made me jump," says Rose. And then, "famous, hey? I’m not sure I like the sound of that."

Martha laughs. “Oh, all good things, I promise."

"That sounds like a lot of pressure," says Rose, but she’s smiling, it’s friendly teasing between two people who feel like they should already know each other. They're standing side by side, both of them leaning against the walls of the TARDIS half-facing one another. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose catches eyes with the Doctor and her smile softens, and he grins back at her, open and wide and sparkling, and, oh, she’d _missed_ this.

"D'you want me to leave you two alone?" Martha asks, following her gaze to see who Rose is looking at. Rose turns away from him to focus on Martha, can feel herself blushing.

"No! No, we've got time, we'll catch up later," says Rose, and then finds the heat in her face getting worse. Then she sees him behind Martha, as well, and does the same thing again, same eye contact and shared grin. Of course. There are two of them now. That's going to get confusing.

"So, you travelled with him too, then?" Rose asks, dragging herself back into the present, into the conversation.

"Yeah," says Martha, "a while ago now, but I’ve made sure I’ve always got his number. Can't go missing out on big adventures like this, now, can I?"

"Oh, definitely not, you were brilliant out there," says Rose. "And you're with UNIT? Is that how you met, or -"

"Oh god no. No, I was a medical student, and he was pretending to be a patient." There's a short pause, and then, "the whole hospital went to the moon."

Rose stares at her, mouth slightly open, half wanting to laugh. It’s such a ludicrous story, but she believes it entirely. "He didn't blow it up, did he?" and then, when Martha shakes her head, "well, that makes a change, he blew up my job the second I met him."

They both burst into giggles then, and it's so nice to be here, on the TARDIS, surrounded by people she loves, making friends with someone who knows exactly how mad this life can be that she's about to re-embark on.

"What was the job?" Martha says, eventually, once the laughter subsides.

"Oh, I was just working in a shop. D’you remember Henriks, big department store up by Piccadilly Circus? He was trying to sort out that whole thing with the shop window dummies, I just sort of stumbled into him, and then he was stuck with me.”

"My mum loved that Henriks," says Martha. Then: "I can never tell her it was his fault it blew up, she'll kill him."

They find themselves laughing again, and then Rose, thinking of mothers, catches sight of Jackie, and feels a little twinge. She's already said goodbye once, hugged her, left the house full of notes and letters for her and Tony and Pete, told her not to follow because the Dimension Cannon could be dangerous - but here she is, again, and Rose will have to say goodbye all over again fairly soon.

"That's my mum over there," she tells Martha. She nods towards Jackie.

Martha follows her gaze, to see Jackie apparently getting on very well with Donna. She turns back to Rose looking somewhat confused. "I heard you were all in a parallel universe," she says. "How'd you all end up here?"

"Oh, Torchwood over there were building this Dimension Cannon thing that would allow us to travel across all sorts of universes. We knew something was up, figured it might affect more than just that dimension, and obviously I’m from here, I wanted to get back, so I got to use it. I told Mum to stay at home, but -"

“Oh, I know what that feels like,” says Martha. “Family, eh?”

They share a smile, and a peaceable silence, both taking a moment to watch everyone else. Rose’s eyes settle easily on the Doctor, who has a casual arm thrown around Sarah Jane. Of course, Martha notices very quickly what she’s looking at.

"You came back for him, didn't you?" Martha asks. Rose finds herself blushing again.

"Mostly, yeah," Rose admits, an embarrassed little smile crossing her face. It’s funny; she spent years working on crossing universes to find the man again and then can’t quite quell the little embarrassment she feels for having done so.

"I had this big crush on him, when I travelled with him," says Martha, and now she's looking over at him - well, one of him - and there's an undecipherable look on her face. "He turned this perfectly ordinary day upside down, took me travelling through time and space, all this adventure I never knew I wanted. But all he talked about was you. And then ... well, my family got hurt. And at the same time, I realised that he was never gonna look at me like I wanted him to, because however much I tried I was never gonna be you. And if I was gonna get over him, I needed to get out. Hence the UNIT job."

That's a lot to take in, all at once. The idea that he talked about her all the time is causing a million different excitable reactions, but she pushes those down, because she likes Martha, and grinning at a story about her feeling bad is not really the best way to show that.

"Good for you," says Rose instead, sincerely. "God, and here I am, travelling across universes tracking him down, I must seem so pathetic," she says with a grin and a giggle.

Martha doesn't laugh, though. "No, it sounds brave. Risking everything for a chance." Another pause. "Besides, he's wanted you back the whole time I met him. It's nice that you both get that."

Rose smiles at her. And then, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, feels overwhelmingly exhausted and strangely teary. It’s been a _very_ long day. What she wants, she thinks, is another hug, a tight squeeze from a beautiful, tall man in a suit who hasn't changed a bit since she last saw him, and then a long sleep.

"Listen," is what she says, instead of leaping across the room into the arms of the nearest Doctor. "Take my number. If you ever want another trip, or a chat, or whatever – I know what he can be like with phones, and I don't know if I’m gonna have many people to visit back on Earth anymore, not with my mum heading back - anyway. It'll be nice to have a friend around."

"Yeah," says Martha, giving Rose a slip of paper with her own number scrawled on it. "That'd be nice. We can get a coffee while the TARDIS refuels, and then, I dunno, run off to save another species from another invader and drop me home in time for dinner.”

They both grin at each other, and then Martha gets pulled into another conversation - Donna and Mickey and the Doctor, the one in blue - and Jack appears at Rose's side for a hug and a proper catch up. Rose is still exhausted, still slightly overwhelmed by how much has happened so far today, but can’t resist throwing herself bodily into his arms for the first time in a long, long time.

Everything is good, for now. and with the Doctor ( _Doctors_ , now, she reminds herself) and the TARDIS and all these people to see on Earth when they visit, it can surely only remain good.


End file.
